July 2004 Bus ban upheld on musician with sex offence record A 64-YEAR-old street musician, with a record of sexual offences against children, has failed in a court bid to force Bus Eireann to carry him as a fare-paying passenger. John Lynch, Tipperary Road, Cahir, Co Tipperary, claimed in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that the bus company’s ban was grounded on his previous convictions. Counsel for Lynch told Judge Elizabeth Dunne that Bus Eireann was in breach of statutory rules and regulations. His client was seeking an injunction directing the company to provide him with a public transport service and restraining them from keeping him off their buses. He said Lynch had been refused access to the Cahir-Waterford bus on August 28, 2002 and afterwards on numerous occasions. He had been told he had been seen on one occasion to have had a child on his lap. Counsel said Lynch had asked Bus Eireann for specific reasons but had simply been told in a letter that the company agreed the bus driver had acted in a proper and appropriate manner. Maire Whelan, counsel for Bus Eireann, said Mr Lynch was under a misapprehension. The matter complained of referred to the decision of one driver and had nothing to do with Lynch’s record. It had to do with a specific incident on a bus where a child had been interfered with.